Continuous quantitative monitoring of sound, light, vibration and/or EM fields is critical for evaluating the environmental impact of a wide variety of mechanical installations. Currently available monitoring systems tend to be uni-modal, often hand held and weather-intolerant and are not useful for taking persistent, calibrated, time-stamped readings across multiple modalities. The inventive multi-modal environmental monitor described herein is easy to use, low in cost and portable for continuous and simultaneous quantitative monitoring of three or four modalities at a single installation. The invention facilitates the comparison of impact as occurs in response to discrete environmental fluctuations, and/or to coordinately monitor trends over time. Typical installations of the inventive devices include, terrestrial and marine based windmills, hydrokinetic turbines as well as a wide variety of transportation-related (eg airports) and industrial installations.
Wind and aquatic hydrokinetic energy sources (e.g. turbines) while considered ‘green’ still have environmental impacts. A wind turbine generates acoustic noise, shadow flicker, an EM field, and a measurable amount of ground vibration. Similarly, aquatic hydrokinetic systems produce an acoustic signal and may cause light field modifications, and in some instances, ground vibrations. When sited appropriately, these energy sources are capable of operating with no detrimental effect to the environment. The largest hurdle to overcome for some proposed installations may involve complying with regulatory agency mandates rather than those of a technical nature. Determining this impact is a necessary requirement for developers, municipalities, and end users.
Shadow or flicker measurement and/or control is discussed by Sorensen et al. in US Patent Publication No. 2011/0204629 and by Acosta et al. in WO2013/017646 and WO2013/017648. Shaded and exposed radiation sensors are disclosed by Barba in US Patent Publication No. 2011/0273704. An acoustic noise monitoring system for a wind turbine is described by Ormel et al. in WO2013/023660.
Performance optimization services for wind turbines are provided by companies such as Upwind Solutions, currently having a website at “www.upwindsolutions.com”. One product currently offered is the UpWind Sentinel™ Drivetrain Health Monitoring solution that allegedly provides multi-source data acquisition including vibration sensing using a plurality of MEMS accelerometers.
Quantifying the potential impact of noise generating and light-level impacting mechanical installations is a necessary requirement for both regulatory bodies, developers and end users. Still, commercially available technology for these measurements employ weather-intolerant instrumentation and, in some cases, inadequate sensors, making long-term time series assessments (e.g., weeks, months or years) impossible. The implementation of uniform and traceable monitoring protocols without standardized instruments often makes subsequent analyses difficult, confusing, or even unusable.
In addition, because the impact of a mechanical installation on the local environment may vary over time and weather conditions, smart control of a mechanical installation performance based on prevailing noise, vibrations or light conditions may often be desirable.
Therefore, there is a need for a readily-available, easily installable, low-maintenance, and durable sensor package, and systems having two or more of such sensor packages, for the production of reliable standardized uniform data set to help facilitate the development and smart electronic control of alternate energy production installations.